Dada Khalifa, mufti of Aleppo

Burhan al-Din Ibrahim ibn Bakhshi ibn Ibrahim al-Hanafi, known as Dada Khalifa, mufti of Aleppo. It is said that he was originally a tanner, until God granted him the pursuit of knowledge, so that he became one of the clients of the Rumi scholars. He was the first to teach at the Khidr Pasha madrasa in Aleppo, and the first of the Rumis to issue legal opinions there. ².

Ibn al-Hanbali said: "We examined him, and he was accurate, with exceptional memory." He mentioned about himself that, had he set his mind on memorising the book al-Tanwikh in a month, he would have memorised it, but he persisted in fasting on the pattern of David for eight years, and his mind became disordered, and his memory declined. He remained in Aleppo with diligence in study and integrity in issuing opinions, until he was appointed to the office of mufti in Iznik in the lands of Rum. He used to say: "If I were given a ruby the size of this house, I would not deviate a hand's breadth from the law." ¹.

He wrote a treatise on the prohibition of sodomy, another on the categories of the revenues of the public treasury and their rulings and expenditures, and a third on the prohibition of hashish and bang. ³.